‘I haven’t seen a tree in three years’: Australian jailed in China releases rare message

‘I haven’t seen a tree in three years’: Australian jailed in China releases rare message
Australian TV anchor Cheng Lei, who could have spent three years in detention in China as of Sunday, has issued a uncommon message saying she misses her household and life in Australia.

“I miss the sun. In my cell, the sunlight shines through the window but I can stand in it for only 10 hours a year,” she stated in a message launched Thursday by her companion Nick Coyle on the X account he runs, FreeChengLei.

Coyle informed CNN the message had been dictated to diplomatic officers and shared with him.

Cheng Lei is a high-profile Australian television anchor for the Chinese Government's English news channel, CGTN
Cheng Lei is a high-profile Australian tv anchor for the Chinese Government’s English news channel, CGTN (CGTN)

“I can’t believe I used to avoid the sun when I was living back in Australia,” Cheng’s message stated.

Cheng described it as a “love letter” to Australia, and stated “I haven’t seen a tree in 3 years.”

“I can’t believe I used to avoid the sun when I was living back in Australia,” Cheng’s message stated.

Cheng, a former business anchor for China’s state broadcaster CGTN and mom of two, is accused of illegally supplying state secrets and techniques abroad, a cost that carries a potential sentence of between 5 years to life in jail.

She was on her solution to work on the morning of August 13, 2020, when she “was taken by China’s Ministry of State Security,” Coyle stated in a letter revealed in The Australian newspaper in May.

Chinese authorities haven’t revealed particulars of the allegations in opposition to Cheng.

The courtroom in China has delayed handing down a verdict a number of instances, leaving Cheng in custody and her family members with out readability on her destiny.

In her letter launched Thursday, Cheng spoke fondly of her life in Australia, writing “I miss the Australian people.”

“I remember camping for the first time with my family,” she writes. “I miss the sweet encounters of wildlife in Australia, the sea salt whirling in my ear.”

“I relive every bushwalk, river, lake, beach with swims and picnics and psychedelic sunsets, sky that is lit up with stars, and the silent and secret symphony of the bush,” she says.

High-profile Australian journalist Cheng Lei has been detained in China. (Twitter – Cheng Lei)

“Most of all I miss my children,” she wrote on the finish.

Coyle informed CNN that he’s solely capable of hear from Cheng after her consular visits, which occur as soon as a month.

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Source: www.9news.com.au